Hundreds of Sri Lankan troops surrounded the hotel where the opposition candidate was holed up today as early returns from the nation’s hard-fought presidential election gave the incumbent a comfortable lead.

SRI LANKANS crowded polling stations yesterday to choose between two Sinhalese war heroes — the president and his former army chief — in an election that could be decided by minority Tamils, who suffered most from the government offensive to end the civil conflict.

Sri Lankans crowded voting stations throughout Colombo today in a hard-fought election to decide whether the incumbent president or his former army chief should lead the nation’s recovery from a brutal civil war.

A video purportedly showing troops shooting blindfolded, naked Tamils in the final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war has revived calls for a war crimes investigation and cast a shadow over the upcoming presidential election.

SRI LANKA’S president declared his country “liberated from separatist terror” as state television broadcast images of the Tamil Tiger rebel leader’s body after it was recovered from the battlefield.

Sri Lanka's president declared his country "liberated from separatist terror" today as state television showed the body of the Tamil Tiger rebel leader killed by troops.

THE United Nations said yesterday that “many” civilians have been killed in recent fighting in Sri Lanka’s civil war and called the situation for thousands of displaced people trapped in the northern conflict zone a crisis.

Tamil Tigers and bereaved families lit lamps and garlanded portraits of fallen fighters in rebel-held parts of Sri Lanka to mark the end of Hero’s Week, as the rebels’ reclusive leader prepared to make his annual policy speech today.

Sri Lanka’s armed forces and Tamil Tiger rebels traded artillery fire overnight, as the military advanced on a strategic Tiger-held enclave in the northeast in an assault that has killed at least 79 people, the military said today.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a car carrying a top Sri Lankan general today, killing the third-highest ranking officer in the military and three other people.

A FEMALE suicide bomber disguised to look pregnant blew herself up in front of a car carrying Sri Lanka’s highest-ranking general yesterday, killing eight people and badly wounding the top officer. Twenty-six others also were injured.

A FEMALE suicide bomber disguised to look pregnant blew herself up in front of a car carrying Sri Lanka’s highest-ranking general yesterday, killing eight people and badly wounding the top officer.

A female suicide bomber, believed to be a Tamil Tiger rebel, exploded a bomb in front of a car that was taking Sri Lanka’s top military general inside the army headquarters in Colombo today.

Sri Lanka’s newly-appointed top military general today said his forces were ready to meet any threat from Tamil Tiger rebels, but he would guard against “falling prey” to rebel provocations.